Tatiana Maslany on going green as She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, Marvel's newest star

Tatiana Maslany: The reason I felt compelled to audition for this part was that I've never really seen a superhero story that focused so much on what it is to be human, and that to me is really interesting. She-Hulk has these two very different bodies — one that no one pays attention to and one that everyone pays attention to and she navigates walking into rooms as both of them. I think that's very relatable, as a woman — it says a lot of interesting things about what society expects women to look like and what women will be respected.

So I hope that young women, or young queer people when they watch this, will feel connected to what it is to be outside the norm, or outside of the straight white man thing and feel connected to her because she is a full human being. I think her wholeness is what makes her a superhero, and that's inspiring to me. 

TM: I definitely read all the comics that had She-Hulk in them, because I found it so interesting how different artists had drawn her and also the sense of humor and the irreverence — the tone of She-Hulk is so specific, regardless of how she's explored, so I definitely drew from that. 

But also, growing up — this is a weird reference, but I was really obsessed with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when I was a kid! I watched Secret Of The Ooze last week again, for the 500th time, just out of comfort. There's something about that 80s/90s action-comedy and all the turtles are such specific characters. I think that had to be part of what I brought to this character, my dorky obsession with those guys and getting to embody them myself, as an actor. Which is a confession that maybe should embarrass me, but it doesn't! [laughs]

TM: For sure, there's a real resistance to her accepting that she has to be She-Hulk now — this is a thing that happened to her, it isn't who she is, that's a core belief in her. I think all of us can relate to that thing where we have a dream, or an idea, of what our life is and we pursue that dream and we do everything we can to maintain it and then something happens and now your life has changed completely. That is an incredibly painful thing to contend with. 

But I think what this story is really about is really accepting all parts of yourself, and not denying any of it. Because it's all you. That's a fun theme that we definitely explore with her.

TM: I wore a mo-cap [motion capture] suit — this grey suit that has all these sensors on it. It has a helmet with a camera attached to it, and you have all these dots on your face and somehow these computers can take all of that data and send it to the animators and they have this fully-formed skeleton from which they build the character. 

What's so amazing to me is how far that technology has come. I was on set one day and they brought over a laptop that had an early rendering of She-Hulk, it was just this really simple thing where I was sitting there and listening to somebody and I thought, "oh, that looks like a person listening, even though she's 6ft 7 and green and all of that!" I could see all the nuance and human behavior that the animators took and they used that stuff so the character feels like she's living in the real world. That is just so exciting. 

And weirdly, as much as it would be fun to be in green paint so I could actually feel like a superhero, there's something about getting to imagine it that's just a powerful as an actor. Mark Ruffalo [who plays Bruce Banner/Hulk] said the same. It feels like theatre, it feels like make-believe in a very pure way.

There were certain aspects of it that definitely helped me, like letting your imagination do so much of the work for you. If you have to work with a tennis ball, or whatever, you really do have to imbue it with being a person that you care about and that you're talking to. 

But the difference in this is that so many of the environments were created too, like some of the spaces that I'm in are just a big gray warehouse, and you have to pretend that you're fighting somebody, or talking to the judge, or whatever. It's this fully created environment and it really does become theatre, like, how much can you commit to this imagination-play?

Jennifer feels so uncomfortable, she doesn't feel powerful in her body — every room she walks into is a bit of an apology, even though she's incredibly smart and good at her job. 

At the same time, when I am playing She-Hulk, with the mo-cap suit, nothing about that feels cool or powerful! I'm walking on these platforms, I've got a camera in my face and I'm trying to connect with people. So that same loneliness that Jen Walters feels can also translate into how She-Hulk feels. Even though she looks different and people speak to her differently, she feels like the same person — she's like, 'I'm still Jen, I'm just as unsure of myself and just as lonely, even though I look like a superhero."

Titania is basically the cool girl and Jen is not — in sort of high school terms, she's Jen's bully. Titania has fully embraced her superhuman-ness, she loves it, she cashes in on it, she's on social media, she has followers, all of that stuff, and Jen's like, "I'm not a superhero, don't look at me like that". So, in facing Titania, she has to face the worst of what she would dream this can be — that, in a lot of ways, is what Titania represents.

Jameela's so great in this part. She's brought all of her feelings about social media and that world into this character!